Deceived. Bertrice Small

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СКАЧАТЬ about this marriage between you. He was as much in the dark as you were.”

      “There is no further correspondence?”

      “Only the letter Mama received this morning,” George replied.

      “Where is it?” Aurora demanded to know.

      Calandra jumped up, crying, “Here! On Papa’s desk! Mama has lain it there by force of habit.” Her hazel eyes scanned the missive quickly. Then she read:

      “To Robert Kimberly.

      It is with grieving heart that I write to tell you of my husband’s passing in early November. His heir, our grandson, Valerian, has assumed his duties as the Fourth Duke of Farminster. I see from James’s correspondence with you that the time approaches for the marriage between your daughter, Charlotte, and Valerian. My grandson will sail February the tenth from Plymouth aboard the Royal George. We look forward to receiving Charlotte into the family, and I will do my best to see she is made comfortable. And please reassure Charlotte that I will personally advise her, and train her in her new duties as Duchess of Farminster. Please know that you and your family will always be welcome at Hawkes Hill Hall. I remain, Mary Rose Hawkesworth, Dowager Duchess of Farminster.

      “Oh, my!” Calandra sighed. “Doesn’t it all sound grand? I wonder what a duchess’s duties are, Aurora. Do you think I can do them?”

      “Just more manners, I suspect,” Aurora reassured her stepsister, “and you are wonderously clever at learning the civilities, decorums, and etiquette of society, Cally. I cannot be bothered with such folderol.”

      George had been going through the previous duke’s correspondence as his sisters spoke. Now he said, “There is no mention of you being called Aurora, my clever little sister. The bride is mentioned only as Charlotte in all the correspondence.”

      “But what if Papa referred to her in his letters as Aurora?” Calandra suggested. “What will we do then?”

      “Since this duke wasn’t aware of the marriage plans his family made,” Aurora said slowly, “it is unlikely he has ever seen the letters Papa wrote to his grandfather. I question if the old duke even kept the correspondence between them. His lady wife does not seem overly familiar with the situation, I divine.”

      “Papa kept the letters he received,” Calandra pointed out.

      “Yes,” Aurora agreed, “but it was more in Papa’s interest to keep them in the event the Hawkesworth family attempted to cry off, or conveniently forget the betrothal and marry off their heir to a wealthier heiress. Papa’s letters from the duke would have given him grounds for an action in the courts should he have felt the Kimberly honor besmirched. You know how proud Papa was of the family.”

      “We can find no evidence the duke knows he was betrothed to Charlotte Aurora,” George said. “I believe it is worth taking the chance of marrying him to Cally. How can he possibly find out that a switch has been made?”

      “And if he does,” Aurora said, “it is to be hoped that by that time he will harbor some tender feeling for Cally, and that she will have borne him an heir. Besides, he will have St. Timothy Plantation. What will he have lost by our little ruse?” She smiled at her stepbrother. “I am so glad you agree with me, George.”

      “I do not know if I agree with you at all,” the young man answered her, “but I do know that once you have set your mind to something, Aurora, you will not change it easily, if at all. I think you are being foolish, because I believe you to be frightened of this sudden shift in your life. Papa wanted you to have this marriage, but if you will not have it, then I can do nothing more than attempt to see the family is not endangered by your foolish action. The duke shall have a Charlotte Kimberly to wed even if it is not the correct Charlotte Kimberly.”

      “Papa would be very proud of you, George,” Aurora told him. “He always said he wished he were your natural father instead of just your stepfather. He loved you and Cally every bit as much as he loved me. That is why he legally adopted you and gave you his name as well as that of your own dead father. I wish he had left you St. Timothy instead of leaving it to me. Then nothing would have ever changed.”

      George reached out and took Aurora’s hand in his. “I might bear Papa’s name, little sister, but I am not of his blood. It was blood that made his decision for him. As you have already said, he was proud of his family. I am well provided for, God knows, and he has requested in his will that the duke continue my tenure as manager and overseer of St. Timothy. I am good at it, Aurora! There is no reason the duke will not honor Papa’s request, and as long as the plantation remains prosperous, he will have no cause for complaint, will he?”

      Calandra settled herself back down on the floor with her two siblings, resting her head on her brother’s shoulder. The trio had been together for almost their entire lifetime, and loved one another dearly. If Oralia and Robert Kimberly had worried that their children would not get on, it was a notion dismissed in the first few minutes of their meeting, when Aurora had struggled from her nanny’s arms and run down the dock to welcome her new stepmother and siblings to St. Timothy. It seemed to those watching that the child was greeting her natural mother, brother, and sister, who had been away but a time. There had never been any jealousy between any of them.

      “Then we are agreed,” Aurora said. “Cally will marry the duke, bringing with her the plantation as a dowry. I will have Cally’s portion from Papa, and my mother’s family home. And George will have what Papa left him, and remain as manager.”

      “You are absolutely certain this is what you want?” George questioned her. “Once Cally has been introduced to the duke as his bride, there can be no going back, Aurora. You do understand that?”

      She nodded. “I want to marry a man who loves me, George, not a man who is obligated to marry me. I know there are some who would think me a fool for it, but I do not care. I will go to England with Cally and the duke and see if I can find a gentleman who will love me. If I do not, then I shall return to St. Timothy to my own home.”

      “Very well, then,” George Spencer-Kimberly said. “Then it is indeed agreed between us that this is the course of action we shall take. I hope that the duke never finds out our little ruse.”

      “What of Mama?” Cally said. “She says she will not cooperate.”

      “Aurora is right,” George replied. “When the duke’s vessel sails into the harbor, Mama will have no choice but to go along with us. If she does not, she risks everything. I do not like making her unhappy, but if Aurora will not have her duke, then this is the best direction for us to take if we are to preserve the family.”

      The brother and his two sisters joined hands.

      “Together,” said George.

      “Forever,” said Cally.

      “As one!” Aurora responded, finishing the pledge of allegiance they had made up as children and repeated whenever they did something together that they considered important.

      “Then it is settled,” Cally said, her eyes sparkling.

      “Yes,” Aurora agreed.

      “And you shall be the duke’s duchess,” George chuckled. “What a treat London society has in store for it.”

      “I shall be a wonderful duchess,” Cally told him. “I shall have all the beautiful gowns СКАЧАТЬ